If you're big into risque video game content then you may not want to hear this, but Catherine: Full Body developer Atlus -- more specifically its own Studio Zero -- has seemingly shied away from giving a definitive answer on whether or not the upcoming title will be censored under Sony's new sexual content policy.
This whole censorship thing has been rumbling on for around a month now, and at first, it looked like Sony was only targeting relatively niche Japanese developers. However, more recently, it was confirmed by Koei Tecmo that Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet would have certain aspects removed on PlayStation 4. In other words, Sony may be widening the net.
The aforementioned Studio Zero has responded to fan questions on Twitter, many of them asking whether Catherine: Full Body would be censored as per Sony's policy. "There are no mysterious lights in Catherine: Full Body. (We went as far as we could go without the light shining.) To everyone worried about that, we love you. (We received about 10 more of the same question)," the tweet reads, as translated by Gematsu.
In this case "mysterious lights" refers to the obscuring of a visual's sexualised areas. It's a reasonably common form of censorship in Japanese media.
The potential issue here is that Studio Zero didn't outright say that Catherine: Full Body won't be censored, even though other, more direct questions were asked. The fact that the developer only stuck to the "mysterious lights" stuff is perhaps a warning sign, as if it was dancing around the truth.
Of course, there's no real way of knowing whether Catherine: Full Body will indeed be censored until the game is released. It's due out in Japan in February next year.
[source gematsu.com]
Comments 96
you folks at push square are trying way too hard to provoke the community and start flame wars in the comments. back off a bit and we can discuss things as they happen. man, this is desperate journalism at its finest.
It's unfortunate that this is exclusive to Playstation devices, considering how things are panning out with regard to Sony's new policies.
Gotta say, seeing a game be E for Everyone on one system and M for Mature on another is sobering.
Also probably the highlight of 2018: The Trainwreck Year
I won’t be be surprised if it is. But I really hope it won’t be censored.
@Ralizah
Completely agree, this is beyond lame. It's too much to hope these devs abandon Sony, but if Nintendo really is being more lenient I hope to see more games like this, the Yakuza series, Devil May Cry, etc, get Switch versions as well when the inevitable 'New Nintendo Switch' arrives.
I don’t mind a bit of censorship here and there. I just don’t want lose the ability to actually buy and play the games. That’s a really scummy move to outright ban a game just because it showed some skin of some girls.
Given the fact that a game called "Hanasaki Work Spring!" remains untouched even though it has worse stuff than some of the censored games proves that there is no rationality or consistency in this new policy. Catherine could very well be censored at the end of the day.
Catherine will probably be okay. It’s a puzzle game are you controller character. What Sony seems to really object to Is abilities, items or sliders that allow the player to directly manipulate a female character. I can’t think of an instance where they have censored something one character is doing to another.
Thanks Pushsquare for putting the game in the spotlight GJ.... 😑
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, first its only to censor niche japanese games, then to censor niche games although its from big publisher, than to censor all games for japan. What the next phase, censoring cyberpunk nudity, making xbox the definite cyberpunk experience? Censoring violence if enough (non gamers) people scream it?
@Porco 100% disagre, this is a playstation website, it should report all playstation news, good or bad. If you want to see news reporter happy because of this censorship, you can always reads kotaku/polygon/waypoint that very happily don't report this news.
If they are going to censored it I hope it instead gets cancelled and Atlus takes it's toys somewhere else (Kiddie bitty Nintendo is apparently the uncensored games company now)
Should I expect a patch in Horizon that removes Aloy's breast? Will all the characters in Doax3 Scarlet have to wear burqas? I'm being too silly you shout at me at the top of your lungs!?
Now when a game in Japan gets announced I will have to first check what and how much specifically was censored. Meanwhile the people playing Super Mario party and Captain Toad will enjoy the games in all it's uncensored glory.
Of course they will.
They will censor it. That's so sure like an "Amen" in church, as the German says. Jawohl!
@Porco Wtf are you on about lmao, Sony does stupid 💩, they deserve to get called out, simple as that.
The new site Doomsquare clickbait mania. 😁
It's one of my most anticipated games, so I'm hoping that Sony stays well away from tampering with this one.
What a bloody non story, hasn't it crossed people's minds that the game hasn't gone into certification yet so the developers wouldn't even know if anything needed altering yet if at all.
It's just fueling the bloody drama for the sake of it, there's no need for the article to take on this negative stance.
you know IF Sony (now run by the idiots state side and not Japan anymore) are really that concered by things like this then why not releases 2 different versions of the games, one censored and one uncut that way people who want it uncut can have it uncut and the namby pamby "don't offend us" brigade can have a version that doesn't affect their oversensitive feelings
either that or put a free "Uncut" DLC on the PS Store
@Cpt_Price But Sony havent censored this yet? Atlus are just saying they dont know if it will be. I think it would be sensible to wait and see what happens first.
Funny how if the game was packed with headshots instead of pantie shots, we'd have nothing to worry about.
@Porco
I agree but your being too arsh on pushsquare. They are just doing the same thing as most gaming sites. They maybe even not aware of it and think that's normal.
Outrage even before, then outrage when something may trigger it, etc. To be fair. That's what people seem to be fond of.
@wiiware
Haha
Kotaku are pro of pretend outrage
Lately there was an article about a song being outrageous and used by male gamers against female gamers and that sort of lunacy.
Edit for clarification
Kotaku definitely have strong agendas and pushsquare doesn't have 'those'. However it's still the same technique of outrage bringing traffic. It's not even just in gaming news unfortunately.
@Porco I disagree. This is PlayStation news and that's what we cover. It's weird how there's this perception that we're suddenly trying to "provoke" readers when we just reflect the things that are happening in the PlayStation community.
Is it our fault for reporting the news, or Sony's fault for letting these stories snowball?
So if Sony censor this then I was entirely right to move to Xbox and the Switch. I said from the start that all Japanese games would be at risk of this nonsense and looks like I could very well be right.
Also look at that, I linked a post that said that Japanese developers weren't specifically allowed to say that their games will be censored and here is Atlus skirting around the matter and not giving answers.
@get2sammyb The story isn't snowballing though, the whole censorship thing hasn't been covered by the majority of the major websites. As for this article, it's not so much the story, it's Robert implying that there's "a warning sign" that Catherine might get censored when there's no evidence of such a thing. It ultimately just fuels the negativity and the "Sony are arrogant" brigade when there's no basis for it.
@MadAussieBloke lol seeing as the original game was amazing, yeah a lot of Atlus fans did but keep being close minded man.
@beemo It's ridiculous that some actually want companies to take games off PlayStation just to protest. Considering the games that have been "censored" it's probably not best to die on that hill.
@AdamNovice Well as a PlayStation website we're always going to cover more specific topics than IGN and GameSpot and I'd argue that, regardless of whether they're reporting it or not, this topic absolutely has accumulated traction.
I also agree with the sentiment of the article: if nothing has been changed, why not come out and say it? It is conspicuous to me.
This is one of those topics where you can't win because everyone has a different opinion on it. As I've said multiple times now, I personally think some of the stuff that's been getting censored is downright embarrassing. I would hope that Catherine is treated differently, though, because it's less titillating than, say, Senran Kagura.
Context is key.
@get2sammyb you have to remember that lord Sony never does anything wrong and any negative articles are a unnecessary slander to lord Sony.
@beemo I guess I just take issue with the idea that it's "provocation". We're just covering things that we think are relevant to the interests of PlayStation fans like we always do.
PlayStation is generally awesome so the vast majority of the things we write are positive, but there are occasions where negative things happen. In this case the situation is complicated because some people agree and some people disagree, and that's fine.
The Internet sees the world in black-and-white, but there are shades of grey everywhere. I don't think this is a story that can be ignored.
@JJ2 Disagre, it's great that pushsquare is covering this, this is playstation news, the fact that some website didn't covering this news is weird and making them useless as a source of news. What kind of news source that doesn't want to cover news if it's didn't align with their (political) views?
@get2sammyb Agree, that's why this website is my number one news source for everythings playstation, just straight news, no political or holier than thou attitude most website do
@beemo that is irrelevant though. I can imagine you being annoyed that the types of games that you enjoyed just started getting censored or outright banned because of some stupid new policy by a company. I love visual novels and they're some of my favourite forms of media when it comes to story telling but now Sony are outright banning them for no real reason whatsoever.
I don't even care about Senran Kagura or that cat girl game but censorship is stupid in 2018.
@get2sammyb "why not come out and say it" Why should they? Just because of a few jittery people on Twitter? That's half the problem because everyone wants to know everything yesterday. It's just as possible that the person been asked might not know all the details so probably thought best not to say anything to avoid Internet drama but apparently saying nothing causes Internet drama as well.
"accumulated traction" Outside of a few idiots who spam Sony's social channels I've hardly seen it been mentioned even then for every 1 of them there's 5 others who just tell them to sod off.
@AdamNovice because they caaaaaaaaaaaaan't~
@Hengist nice try friend, all of these girls are adults.
@wiiware Every news outlet that's ever existed has been driven by some political agenda or bias, it's human nature.
I'm totally surprised! Who would think that Japanese games would do this. What's next, school girls in short skirts or Bikini's? Nah, Japanese games would never do that, as they could be viewed as having sub-paedophilliac tendecies.
@beemo hey if that's how you feel man then more power to you but I adore games like Danganronpa, Fate, Ace Attorney and with 428: Shibuya Scramble being my favourite game this year (visual novel) knowing that they're going to be banned entirely because of new policies is just so frustrating.
@Hengist ah ok, you're dumb then.
@IBeAGamer Coming from such a well respected genius, as yourself, I'll take that as a complement. Thanks.
@beemo I'll put this into perspective for you then.
428: Shibuya Scramble has absolutely no fanservice whatsoever but games like it are getting banned now.
Compared to Nintendo and Xbox news, the PlayStation ones have become rare these days (excluding the bad news). I can understand that's difficult for PlayStation only websites to find topics. Especially if someone's so talkative like Sony.
@Hengist Awwww, it thinks I care what other fanboys on this website think about me. Nah mate, you're dumb as a ton of bricks and it's hilarious that another fanboy needed to correct your ignorance.
@IBeAGamer Why do you even bother commenting on here if your so against nearly everything PlayStation does (your comment history suggests that)? Seems like a waste of energy to me. That would be like me spending all my time on Nintendo Life saying how Nintendo's online service is garbage, they over price remasters and the Switch has bloody awful memory storage. I don't cos it's a waste of time.
@AdamNovice because I like my PS4 and have a right to comment on bad things that Sony does my friend.
@IBeAGamer
Your ability to post personal attacks, on a discussion board, certainly highlights your mature, intellectual, debating skills and general intelligence. Can you provide more examples?
@Hengist >mature
>calls this a paedophilic game without even looking up anything about it
I just point out facts my friend.
@IBeAGamer
Thanks for the further example.
@IBeAGamer And so do I but I'll only criticise Sony when I feel its warranted and right there hasn't been much if any reason to do so as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway I'm jumping off this ship now so I'll leave you in the immortal words of Ozzy Osbourne "I love you all...but your all f***ing mad"!
@AdamNovice and I feel that this is warranted.
@Hengist give us evidence that you're not a fanboy
@YousefFromKuwait
I guess it depends on the content that get censored but, generally speaking, I'm the opposite of you. If I'm going to buy a game I'd rather get what the developers intended than a game that's been censored.
@IBeAGamer
Give evidence that I'm not a fanboy? Unfortunately, I'm unable to do that, as I consider myself to be a PC, Sony, Xbox fanboi.
@Hengist sure you do my friend.
@Sanquine
All true. Nintendo at this point is the last real Japanese hardware maker left, which is kind of why I'm rooting for them. The vast majority of my top 50 favorite games of all-time are Japanese and even today I like a well-made game from Nintendo, Capcom, Sega, From Software, Sony Japan Studio or even Namco better than most of what's on the market, though European and Canadian devs also have some franchises I really love.
@IBeAGamer I'm glad, for you, that you agree.
@beemo
'It doesn't interest me so it shouldn't interest anybody else.' Great attitude.
@Gamer83 Indeed, im buying all my third party at Nintendo. Sony is lucky that i like their exclusives:)
@Sanquine
Sony still has great exclusives, no question about that. Censorship is stupid but that said I don't jump on the boycott bandwagon. It'd be like back in the day if people had said to boycott SNES because Nintendo of America was in a censor anything with extreme violence phase. As long as Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch are owned by Sony I'll buy PlayStation hardware. Just might be more picky about where I get my third party games. Right now there's no choice with Japanese games. MS doesn't get them and Nintendo misses out on a lot of the ones I like because the hardware isn't capable (again, hoping for a revised Switch to hopefully remedy some of that). For Western games, I'm not expecting stuff like Cyberpunk 2077 or Rockstar's games to get censored but you never know. If they do and MS decides to capitalize on that, I could see myself going back to Xbox for multiplats eventhough I don't really want to.
@Stecav67
That's what I've been saying, but the standard response is 'you're not forced to do that.' Aside from the fact the content in these Japanese games are also optional, that defense shouldn't make some of this content any better, especially if somebody is against revealing clothing because it's 'sexist' or 'demeaning.' Respect women but it's ok to punch them in the face and drag them along train tracks. I have no problem with the content being there, it's part of the player freedom that Rockstar prides its games on. Not something I do in the games but if other people do it, whatever. Still, it is funny where different people draw the line. To me, it's just video games, most people can tell the difference between real and fake, just like with movies, so it is what it is. If the dev puts something in a game I feel is going too far, I just won't buy it.
@Gamer83 There is always a line. The whole "it's just pixels" excuse is a weak one. Would you be ok with raping pixels of a child? Would you be ok with raping a man/woman and hearing their realistic cries to stop? Would you be ok with a long scene where you're torturing kids by drowning them in a super realistic environment where they fight for their lives?
There is always a line
@Stecav67 Wait, why would it be ok to kill a European, African American, but not a Mexican? I haven't played the games, so I don't understand your point.
@IBeAGamer "Sony does my friend".
Nicccce.
@Gamer83 Yeah I too want to play the game the way it was intended. I just don’t think some minor censorship might ruin that. Though, you are right on the fact that it depends on what kind of censorship we’re talking about.
@naruball
Wouldn't be ok with it, wouldn't buy it. For the stuff I'm talking about it involves adult characters and it's just games. People have no problem with taking hookers to spot in a GTA game, having them service the lead character then killing them to get their money back. No problem with punching dogs (people did make videos of this) in first person mode. No problem with a forced, not optional, torture scene in GTA V (it was torture of a male character so especially who cares) but boobs are an issue. It's f**king stupid, period.
@AdamNovice Really? I remember ign, gamespot, and others website didn't get political back then, they just report games reviews, previews, and opinion pieces, the first political gaming website that I know is polygon.
@naruball I just don't want censored games.
@Amusei nothing has happened yet with catherine. there is nothing to report yet. push square just wants to provoke us and start flame wars in the comments... are you too dense to understand their intentions? calm down and wait to see what happens first before having a heart attack. tell your friends too.
@wiiware
Haha
This is actually no news.
The guy says there s no typical Japanese like sensorship and pushsquare goes 'Of course, there's no real way of knowing whether Catherine: Full Body will indeed be censored'
@Sanquine As per community rules
Do not use profanity; Use of unsavoury language including profanity and swearing is not acceptable, please remember that this website has users of all ages.
So let's watch.the language from now on.
Thanks for understanding
@IBeAGamer You have yet to give me a Proof of that censorship that people are calling them out.
Except 1 guy who is representing a company very few have heard off.
@JJ2 seriously... some people in the comments are ready to pounce at any headline with the word "censor" in it... even if the article is a speculation piece designed to provoke. i think most of the protesters on here aren't even familiar with catherine (ps3). if they were, they would know that it has no nudity in it at all and presumably, the ps4 remaster won't have any nudity either — as an artistic choice. there are also no pervy mini games, etc... the only thing that could be censored is the x-ray feature where you see their undergarments but we'll see what happens first... having arguments over speculation is nonsense.
@Porco
Well there could be some stuff removed, whatever they call it, but then you have another or more articles about it. This one is unnecessary really though what the hell?
Thing is people assimilate sensorship with mature themes lately whereas I don't think they are mature at all. Quite the opposite actually.
The Switch port beggars are in full force here, lol.
@JJ2 If there's no censor, the dev will says "the game will be the same as ps3 version or no, the game isn't censored". I hope the game will be uncensored like ps3 version, but its true what pushsquare reported, the dev can't give definive answer
@wiiware
Moreover with the translation and the way the answer actually came up if you look at the source, it's really dificult to draw any news from it
We report on it and it's "don't report on it, you guys hate Sony".
We don't report on it and it's "why aren't you reporting on this? You guys are just Sony fanboys".
And look, we need to settle down in this comments section. From this point on, name calling or any kind of personal attacks are going to be dealt appropriately with comment deletion and a potential ban.
Please keep things respectful towards the site and everyone who uses it.
@ShogunRok yeah, you guys just can’t win huh? Definitely agree what you said about the comment section. I would rather not see Push Square go the Nintendo Life route.
@ShogunRok that isn't true. it would be best to report on news that is actually substantial and confirmed. what you have done here is speculate, with a slant towards the censorship side, and all that has done is provoke the community and encourage wars in the comments. report on the story once we have some clear answers. what do you say to that?
@FullbringIchigo I like that idea honestly. I'm always appreciative of options whether I use them or not. It can't be that hard to implement either.
@ShogunRok Yeah, I think the community is interested enough to warrent an article, and honestly, I feel like a community address for the comments section considering all of the name calling might be in order. It seems to becoming more common for childish name-calling to dictate some of the debates on here now.
@Porco So we can no longer report on rumours or opinion? You want us to just regurgitate press releases every day? I guarantee you don't.
@MadAussieBloke ok?
@ShogunRok it would be better to cut down on these types of articles rather than have several a week. if you don't agree, then expect to encourage toxic behaviour in the comments. that is the main point i am trying to make. also, the pr answer from studio zero contradicts there being any censorship... so shouldn't the headline be something along the lines of: "catherine ps4 looking less likely to be censored" rather than the headline you currently have?
p.s., this will be the last time i comment on this article since there is nothing substantial or news worthy to discuss at present time. i will wait for your article on the official word and go from there
@Constable_What No problem, glad someone is seeing the influence of the indentity politics in everything.
@kyleforrester87
The PushSquare Community Solves the Censorship Problem ?
Or
Bum Fever ?
People need to look inward and stop worrying what someone else does that don't effect them. No one that would not buy games like that will run out and purchase it if it's censored. Isn't the avg of a console owner 35 now? I feel they should have the ability to just say no for themselves. Kids have parents that need to do their job of parenting.
Censorship is not needed when we all have the ability to vote with our purchases.
I honestly can't believe that people are either making excuses for, or defending, Sony here. I have no interest whatsoever in most of the games that will be affected by this policy, but censorship of any kind is a dangerous and slippery road to take.
@wiiware
Sorry for replying late (anyway pushsquare is really not overwhelming with real news these days) but no 'dev cant give a definite answer' is fake news. The reality is 'dev DOESNT give a definite answer'
@Porco Alright buddy, whatever you say, yet here you are, causing all kinds of mischief in the comments yourself. Naughty boy you are ♥️
@Sanquine @nessisonett @Cpt_Price @Constable_What Ok guys this is not the place to discuss politics at all. If you want to discuss politics then you will have to go somewhere else I am afraid. There are other sites that cater more to politics this is not one of them I am afraid.
Thanks for understanding
Developer can't give a definitive answer ?? Why not just guess and announce the full uncensored version as the 'confirmed for ps5' bull you did in another article!!
@Mr-sausage As per community rules
Do not use profanity; Use of unsavoury language including profanity and swearing is not acceptable, please remember that this website has users of all ages.
So let's watch the language please.
Thanks for understanding
@Tasuki my apologies
There’s less chance with Catherine, the main buts Sony is concerned with (for better or worse) are underage or seemingly underage characters and direct manipulation. Catherine has neither.
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